How to Write and Post a Show Biz Resume Online.
or
Details of a Show Biz Recruiter's Living Hell and her Dreams of a Better
Future.

By Deborah Paulino
Managing edtor of an entertainment employment resource and resume
library.

I've been reading and moderating show biz resumes online for 7 years,
for all mediums and genres. Every year I write and broadcast an
article about this subject. Not because I have nothing industry else to
write about, but because people post the most stupid things in show biz
resume libraries and it drives show biz employers and me crazy. And it
is not getting any better, dammit!

I'm not joking. Some budding bright sparks just write "I am the best" or
"Make me a star" or "I am looking or a job" or "I have experience"; not
even enough words for a half decent classified ad. One person sent me
a death threat after I asked them to repost a professional resume with
more detail.

They wrote "how dare you suggest I am un professional, I have been in
the business 12 years... If you insinuate I am unprofessional again I
will..." I replied to them that I read show biz resumes for a living
and that by the look of their first notice I could only assume. Then
there are other sorts of self sabotage...

About 20% of showbiz resume posters, if not prompted, don't include any
contact at all, or if they do, the emails or links to web sites or web
sites themselves often don't work. (actually this also happens with
employers posting jobs, to a lesser degree) Then there are the photos.

Photos can give you a 70% better chance at a response, a professional
photo that is. Yet performers keep posting amateur fuzzy happy snaps,
and crew post school photos or driver's license photos. For goodness
sake people, in show biz presentation IS everything. An employer is
going to look at that photo and make their first impression about YOU
from it.

For some reason when it comes to promoting one's self and show biz
resumes, "some people" seem to think they don't have to make an effort.
Like show biz business is make believe or something and show biz
employers come looking for you and are very easily impressed; NOT.
Show biz employers skip over these "some people" posts as not serious
or tourists. Plus there is the other end of the extreme, the "over
achievers".

The "over achiever" writes a one size fits all boiler plate with their
acting, belly dance, film editing, public relations, dj, author, office
assistant, waitress, dog walker, mountain bike racer, ambient artist,
cartoonist, lighting designer, house painter, interior decorator, baby
sitter etc. skills and experiences all in one resume. Sorry but
absolutely not! Employers will think you are unfocused, possibly
delusional, 5 to 1 flaky, and therefore unemployable.

So what do show biz employers want to see?

Show biz employers are just the same as nine to five employers, they
want to see a professional resume custom written for their opportunity
job/role/position/exposure/funding they are offering and which you are
applying for. They want to see you have thought about their opportunity
and industry and that you've take time to write skill set keywords,
credits, work experience, summary description relating to that
opportunity. It always pays to advertise, never be shy about self
promotion but always keep it business like, to the point, and truthful.

Industry, trade, B2B means real business, show biz is real business, and
you as a person looking to receive money from any industry makes you,
yourself, a business. The first rule of thumb for any kind of
business, and especially show business is...
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